


All I Want for Christmas

by perfumeofsighs



Category: Luke Cage (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-10
Updated: 2017-01-10
Packaged: 2018-09-16 14:22:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9275906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perfumeofsighs/pseuds/perfumeofsighs
Summary: Claire is finding it difficult to get into the holiday spirit after Luke is sent back to Seagate.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted to Tumblr, this is my secret santa fic for tumblr user @imafuckingreverseracist as part of the Marvel Luke Cage Secret Santa Fic Exchange. The prompt was: Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas with Luke / Claire

"Can you please turn that off?” Claire pleaded. 

“Why? You love this song,” Soledad said breezily, hitting the repeat button for Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas” on the diner’s playlist.

It’s true, it is Claire’s favorite holiday song. The jingle of those sleigh bells could put her in a festive mood even in the dead heat of summer. But it was Christmas Eve and she wasn’t feeling it. The lyrics hit a little too close to home without Luke.

After he was sent back to prison, Claire threw herself into researching his case, being active and productive to do anything within her power to get the case moving faster. Matt and Foggy assured her they have a very good chance at getting Luke exonerated. There was nothing left for her to do, but it didn’t mean she worried any less.

When they last spoke, just hearing his voice made her hopeful. She hesitated and wanted to tell him how much she missed him, but didn’t want to weigh down the moment.

“I’m doing fine in here. You just keep that coffee warm for me,” he teased.

She rolled her eyes. 

She kept the conversation light, and told him about the self defense classes she started taking. Claire could always handle herself in a fight but the training was brutal on her body. She appreciated the discipline. It calmed her mind to focus on a task.

“Colleen says I’m her best student. Probably could take your ass down.”

“I don’t doubt it,” he laughed. There was a short pause, and then he added, “I miss you, Claire.”

Her heart ached. She started to throw a smartass retort at him but the words never fit together.

Not sure whether or not she meant it, she said, “Don’t worry, I’ll see you soon.” 

That was a week ago. In the meantime, she was glad to keep busy and helping her mom in the restaurant was a good start. There was a lot of work to be done. The restaurant was always busy in the days leading up to Christmas. And her mother took the holiday more seriously than the rest, decorating the restaurant in tinsel and the windows with fake snow that comes in a can.

She embraced the line “don we now our gay apparel” too, making her employees wear those red hats with the bells, Claire included.

Claire was wiping down a table when she took off the felt hat and waved it accusingly at her mother. “Are you going to wear your santa hat? If you’re going to make the rest of us wear these ugly things?” 

She shrugged. “The perks of being the boss.”

She raises her eyebrows as Claire scrubs furiously at the same spot. “Take it easy, eh? I’d still like to have a table there when you’re done.”

Soledad gently takes the hat and the cloth from Claire’s hands. “As much as I appreciate you helping me out on Christmas Eve, I think you should go home. You look like Santa’s saddest elf and it’s depressing my regulars.”

“Sorry, I just have a lot on my mind.”

“I know sweetheart. I told you before that your eyes sparkle when it comes to Luke ” She kisses Claire on the forehead, “they still do. Have hope, mi amor. Everything will work out, you’ll see.”

——————

Claire went back to her mothers apartment. The box of Christmas trimmings and ornaments was open, sitting on top of the coffee table. Her mother spent so much time decorating the restaurant that she forgot to trim their tree, which stood like a sad green giant in the living room. Well, she could at least make herself useful, she thought. Idle hands, idle minds and all that other crap.

As she draped the tinsel around the tree, Claire started humming that Mariah Carey tune again.

“I don’t want a lot for Christmas… there is just one thing I need,” she sang to herself. Her spirits lifted a little as the tree started to appear more festive. She stood back to admire her handiwork. She covered the top of the tree in tinsel and hung all the ornaments on the bottom, just like she did when she was little.

Trimming the tree was her favorite thing to do when she was a kid, but she was too short to reach the top of the tree so she hung all the ornaments on the lower branches. Her mom never got mad at her for doing it, or told her it was ugly. Claire smiled. Her mom was right, there were still things to be grateful for and she was glad to be with family this Christmas.

Claire flipped through her mother’s CDs till she found Mariah Carey’s Christmas album and put it on, singing loudly. She went into the kitchen to put the kettle on when she thought she heard the front door slam.

“Mama,” Claire called. “Did you close early today?”

She turned the corner and there he was.

Luke Cage, standing in the hall with a shit eating grin on his face.

“Oh my god, Luke.” She walked straight into his arms and held him tightly, afraid to let go, wanting to feel his body against her to know for sure he was really in front of her. Then she punched him hard in the arm.

“You scared the crap out of me! How did you get in here?”

“I went to the restaurant to find you, and your mom told me you were home, and gave me her key.” He peered past her. “You’re here alone?”

“Yes, who else would be here?”

“I don’t know, what if you found a new boyfriend since I’ve been gone?” He joked.

“Oh boyfriend, is that what you are to me now?” She felt light, and giddy, the butterflies rising in her belly.

“Hmm, I heard you singing. I didn’t know you could sing.” 

“I’m … pretty good,” Claire, hesitated. She wasn’t embarrassed to admit it but were they at the stage where they revealed their past lives? She did dunk him in a vat of boiling salt water that one time, so fair is fair. “I was in RENT once. Well… in a college production.”

“Let’s see, you were… Mimi?” Luke guessed. “Let’s go.. ouuuuttt tonight, ” he howled, and Claire laughed because Luke was an awful singer.

“That’s pretty bad, honey. I think you should stick to the hero stuff.” 

The kettle whistled and Luke followed Claire into the kitchen.

“Making … coffee?” He teased, wrapping his arms around her waist.

“Hot cocoa,” she smiled, pouring two cups as Luke kissed her neck. She shivered, goosebumps ran down her arm as she handed Luke his mug. It felt like they picked up right where they left off. The casual flirting and unintentional goofy smiling that starts off every new romance.

“So is that what we’re calling it now? Hot cocoa?”

“We’re calling it two very good friends having a delicious beverage in my mother’s home,” She said, poking him hard in the chest. “And if you behave yourself maybe I’ll give you something a little sweeter and stronger later.”

“Still so cheesy,” he smiled, leaning in and planting a chaste kiss on her lips. “Merry Christmas, Claire.”

He took her mug and carried it into the living room.

“Uh, Claire? What’s going on with this tree?”


End file.
